Rail anchors



1955 E. ENDSLEY ET AL 2,726,044

RAIL ANCHORS Filed April 7, 1953 IN VEN TORS. LOUIS E. ENDSLEY Y Pm PH WK?! l/vrrzz" United States Patent RAIL ANCHORS Louis E. Endsley, Pittsburgh, Pa., and Ralph W. McIntyre, Warren, Ohio, assignors to Warren Tool Corporation, Warren, Ohio,

Our invention relates to shackle-like anchors for railroad track rails of the type wherein the anchor has hooked engagement with a tie plate or the like, to hold the rail against creeping.

One object of our invention is to provide a single piece rail anchor of such form that it can more easily be applied to a track rail than various types of anchoring bars heretofore employed.

Another object of our invention is to provide an anchor that requires no tools other than a hammer to apply the anchor in a tensioned condition to a rail and in tensioned engagement with a tie plate or the like.

Still another object of our invention is to provide a rail anchor that will require less clearance between the underface of the rail and the track ballast for placing the anchor in position.

As shown in the accompanying drawing,

Figure 1 is a plan view showing our rail anchor in operative position with respect to a track rail and a cross tie;

Fig. 2 is a view looking in the direction of the arrows II-II of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the from the rail;

Fig. 4 is a front end view thereof;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view of the rear end of the anchonand Fig. 6 is a view taken on the line VIVI of Fig. 3.

A track rail is shown as having the usual base 7 resting upon a tie plate 8 which, in turn, rests upon a cross tie 9. The anchor comprises a bar that may suitably be of generally rectangular cross section and bent to form a gripping arm portion 10 at its forward end and a leverage arm 11. The arm 11 has a downturned latching extension 12 at its rear end that is initially sloped outwardly anchor of Fig. I removed for engagement with the lower outer corner of the hole r in the tie plate.

Intermediate the ends of the lever arm 11, a boss 13 is formed by bending the arm, to serve as a fulcrum. Beads 15 are formed on the upper and lower inner corners of the boss 13, as shown more clearly in Fig. 6, to more effectively resist disengagement from the edge of the rail which fits into the area between the beads 15 than would a simple concave seat. The lever arm 11 is disposed alongside the rail 7 for a portion of its length, it having a bend 16 formed therein above the edge of the rail base, the lower end of which has the latching extension 12 formed thereon.

The gripping arm portion 10 of the anchor extends in a downwardly-sloping direction relative to the rail, as shown more clearly in Fig. 2, there being bends therein, at 18 and 19, the bend at 18 being on a larger radius than the bend at 19, in order to provide clearance when assembling on a rail and to give a desired quality of resilience or yieldability. The gripping arm 10 at its upper end, has an upwardly-extending portion 20 that has a depression at 21 for seating engagement with the edge of the rail base.

, engagement with the other In applying the anchor to a rail, the gripping arm 10 will be pushed beneath the rail 7 at such distance from the cross tie that the latching extension 12 can be engaged in a hole of the tie plate 8. The upper end of the gripping arm 10 will be raised to the dash line position shown in Fig. 2, the straight portion of the arm being then approximately parallel to the bottom surface of the rail, and there being suflicient clearance at the bend 19 to permit the down-turned rear end 12 of the lever 11 to be positioned vertically for insertion in the hole of the tie plate without strain, and the beads 15 p0- sitioned respectively above and below the edge of the rail base. With the parts in such position, a blow will be imparted by a sledge hammer to the upper end of the extension 20 driving it from its dotted line position in Fig. 2 to its full line position therein.

By reason of the hooked engagement of the rear end of the lever arm with the tie plate and the position of the fulcruming boss 13 on the rail edge, the anchor will thereby be placed under tension and consequently in gripping engagement with the edges of the rail base. That is, the lever arm 11 will be tensi'oned and a twist imparted thereto, resisted by the latch 12 in the tie plate, thus not only giving a greater range of tension, to accommodate tolerances in rail base size, but reducing danger of disengagement from the tie plate.

Only small clearance is required beneath the rail for insertion of the anchor, and therefore not as much ballast need be removed as with various other types of anchors.

We claim as our invention:

1. An anti-creep anchor for track rails, comprising a bar of steel or the like, having a leverage arm for positioning alongside one edge of a rail base, a down-turned latching extension on the rear end of the arm, in position to be engaged within a hole in a tie plate, a boss formed on the leverage arm intermediate its ends and engageable with said edge of the rail base, beads on the upper and lower edges of the boss to resist displacement vertically from the said edge, a laterally-extending gripping arm formed on the bar, at the forward end of the first-named arm and positioned to extend beneath a rail base at a substantial distance below the base, an extension bent to slope upwardly and inwardly from the free end of the gripping arm and having a depression therein, for seating edge of the rail base, the depression being spaced from the first-named arm such distance less than the lower bent portion of the extension that when the rail base has its said other edge in the bend at the lower end of the extension and the downturned end of the lever is in the retaining hole of the tie plate, and the first-named arm is in opposed relation to the first-named edge of the rail base, a hammer blow on the upper end of the extension will move the extension and the gripping arm downward until the said depression engages the second-named rail base edge.

2. An anti-creep anchor for track rails of the form shown and described, comprising a bar of steel or the like bent downwardly and laterally intermediate its ends, to form a gripping arm to extend beneath a railroad track rail and a leverage arm to extend alongside the rail, a shoulder bent upwardly on the outer extremity of the gripping arm, for gripping one edge of the rail base, that portion of the gripping arm intermediate the leverage arm and the shoulder being disposed a substantial distance below the rail and along downwardly-sloping straight lines from the leverage arm, for a distance not less than the rail width, a boss formed on the leverage arm, at a substantial distance from said downward bend, in position to cooperate with said shoulder in gripping the rail base, and in position to engage against the other edge of the rail base and to serve as a fulcrum, to normally urge the rear portion of the leverage arm in diverging relation to said edge throughout the major portion of the arm length, an outwardly-projected bend in the leverage arm, between the boss and the said downward bend and merging therewith and a latching lug on the rear end of the leverage arm in position to be engaged within a hole in a tie plate upon which the rail rests,- when that portion of the leverage arm rearwardly of the boss is in approximate parallelism with the rail, the arcuate inner surfaces of the two bends at the ends of the gripping arm being in laterally-spaced relation to the adjacent edges of the rail base.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

